The method relates to the operation of computer systems for measuring the performance in networked systems.
During the planning and installation of networked computer systems, it is expedient to evaluate or test the planned system in order to find out whether the planned system actually achieves the required performance. The number of instructions which can be executed per second by a central processing unit is for the most part inadequate for this purpose. Performance measurement with adjustable parameters is necessary for this.
To this end, use is made of a test installation and a plurality of load generators which generate a load which is similar to the planned application even though it is synthetic. It is thus possible to test whether the planned system can cope with a predetermined load situation.
It is, of course, the aim of a performance measurement to supplement this purely binary indication by obtaining information by means of quantitative indications, regarding the load profile, in particular the simultaneously active number of loads simulated by load generators, which utilizes a predetermined system to capacity. What becomes evident as a result, in particular, is the load which the system can cope with in addition to the specified load.
A first solution is to start up a number of load generators jointly and activate them successively until the loading limit is reached. However, it has turned out that the figures obtained by this means have resulted in incorrectly dimensioned systems. To date, this has been attributed to the fact that the load generators are just not realistic enough, and the performance figures obtained have been correspondingly corrected by estimation.
However, it has emerged that load generators are fully suitable for carrying out precise, realistic and comparable performance measurement if the method according to the invention is used to determine the performance figures.